David Allan Coe - A Cold Lump Of Coal guitar chord

A Cold Lump Of Coal

written by David Allan Coe

Album: "For the Soul and For the Mind Demo's of '71-'74"

1/23/06

SPOKEN: This last song is a song that I wrote which is a song against capitol punishment.

And I would like very much for that to be stated somewhere along the way, that this

is a song against capitol punishment. I wrote this song for my fahter who is

doin' life in Ohio State Penitenciary; he's been there for 23 years.

INTRO: G C-G G D-G

G C G

There is a story the coal miners tell

D

In Hazzard Kentucky about a woman called Nell

C G

She came there from somewhere just her and a child

D G

And bought her a farm in the valley

G C G

Now rumor says she had a whole lot of money

D

That boy never would work a day in his life

G C G

And all of the miners, those old forty-niners

D G

Tried harder than ever to make Nell their wife

C D C G

But Nell was a lady content with the baby

D

She'd had a good man who was lost in the mine

G C G

At night she would listen for sounds of his hammer

D G

And look in the coal miners' faces for signs

G C G

For years people talked of the pretty young woman

D

The boy, long neglected, had turned to a man

G C G

Who walked thru the tunnels in search of his daddy

D G

And carried a cold lump of coal in his hand

C D C G

She called the boy David, a name from the Good Book

D

For she believed prayin' was good for the soul

G C G

She'd found him abandoned when he was a baby

D G

Clutched tight in his hand was a cold lump of coal

C G C G

Now the truth of the matter, she tried to keep secret

D

But small towns know more than a body should tell

G C G

And it wasn't long 'til the story was proven

D G

For someone had murded the lady called Nell

G C G

The investigation meant questioning David

D

They hounded that boy 'til he lost self control

C G C G

It seems on the floor underneath that old lady

D G

Just touching her head was a cold lump of coal

G C G

Now witnesses swore 'twas the work of the devil

D

'Cause Jesus could never have been that unkind

C G C G

The jury said guilty, the judge had no mercy

D G

The boy was convicted of serious crime

C D C G

And it wasn't long after the boy's execution

D

A man name of Billy confessed to the kill

G C G

His conscience was burdened with innocent bodies

D G

For he swore he'd only been doing God's will

C D C G

He told in a vision the Lord had come to him

D

And whispered go down and take that woman's life

G C G

For she is a sinner not fit to be livin'

D G

Go down there and kill her but don't use your knife

C D C G

Now wait 'til the boy leaves to look for his daddy

D

He'll be forgotten down there in that hole

G C G

Billy confessed how he snuck up behind her

D G

And beat her to death with a cold lump of coal

G C G

Now all of you people that's preaching the gospel

D

Remember repentence must come from the soul

G C G

The Lord knows the answer I'm not free to give it

N/C (D) (C) (G)

For I'm just the voice of a cold lump of coal